QPR are live on the TV again on Friday facing a Reading side with just two defeats from their last 18 matches, a run that has been helped in no small part the loan of our own Mikele Leigertwood.
Much as we would like to, it doesn’t seem as though QPR are going to run away with the Championship as a handful of teams have done in the past. Previously Newcastle, West Brom and our opponents this Friday night Reading have cruised into the Premiership with points totals that were never likely to be matched by anybody else. Everybody was happy to admit that they were in fact streets ahead of the competition at the time.
In 2006 Reading won this league with 106 points and 99 goals scored. The final three of those points, and two of those goals, came on the very final day at the Madejski Stadium against Gary Waddocks’ beleaguered QPR team. It needed a debatable late penalty to settle the game that day, but the script had long since been written for such a spot kick to be awarded so Reading stalwart Graeme Murty could finally add his name to the long list of Reading goal scorers that campaign. QPR were cast as the sacrificial lamb at the party and fulfilled the role very efficiently indeed.
There is no outstanding team in the Championhip this season – just layers of crap and mediocrity up to the top six to eight teams who are all pretty well matched and capable of beating each other on any given day. Cardiff have a good attack, Swansea have an impressive defence, Norwich have a superb away record, Forest are imperious at home – but they all have weaknesses as well, so nobody has been able to cut loose and run away with it.
QPR, who have headed the league from the first minute except for a brief couple of days spent in second around the time of the first meeting between these two teams, have simply been more consistent that anybody else. Just three defeats for the R’s, but the domination has not been as total as Newcastle managed 12 months ago. QPR are a good team (with team being the operative word) that works hard, stays together and keeps going right to the end of games. It can vary its style from a Championship version of total football right through to an old style Wimbledon long ball game. It has some outstanding talents for this division – Routledge and Taarabt – but also some blood and guts merchants to act as enforcers and the glue that holds the team together – Hill and Derry.
It has been interesting, for me at least, to see how teams have tackled us the second time around. Prior to the start of the season, while there was much talk about our perceived wealth, most of the chat about threats in this league this season focussed on Forest, Leicester, Middlesbrough and the other relegated Premiership teams. QPR’s system, built around Taarabt, and level of performance caught a few teams a bit by surprise to begin with and most have adopted completely different styles against us for the return fixtures as they have started to come around.
Reading? Well Reading have already told us what they are going to do second time around. They are going to kick us, and Taarabt in particular. Jem Karacan was particularly vocal after the ill-tempered clash at Loftus Road where Taarabt was at the centre of three incidents. Having won a penalty, a fairly blatant one at that, in the first half Taarabt later hit the deck under contact from Matt Mills during a counter attack. Play was waved on but Mills was booked as soon as the ball went dead and was then lucky not to be sent off as he charged down the field to loom over Taarabt and deliver a volley of abuse. Then in the second half Taarabt clearly did dive to win a free kick which he took himself, paving the way for Tommy Smith to seal the game on the rebound. Throw in Bradley Orr’s red card and it’s clear there are one or two scores to settle from that first game.
Karacan was fuming after the first game saying Reading “couldn’t wait” for QPR to come back for the return fixture. We shall see.
Having missed out on Austin they did land giant French forward Mathieu Manset from Hereford, more on him shortly, and if he can be the catalyst to turn these draws into wins then they could be a handy bet for the play offs this season.
The run of form strangely seems to have coincided with the arrival of our own Mikele Leigertwood on loan – he is yet to lose in 11 appearances for his new club and scored in his last two outings against Stevenage and Cardiff. QPR had the foresight to prevent him playing against us on Friday, but he picked up a three match ban for violent conduct from the Cardiff game anyway to make doubly sure.
Leigertwood was the first signing of the new “cash rich” era at Loftus Road, joining at the very end of the summer transfer window in 2007 when John Gregory was the manager for £900,000 from Sheffield United. I think it’s fair to say that nobody at Loftus Road has really been able to work him out since then. When he played well was he a poor player having a good day? When he played badly was he a good player off form? Three and a half years later I still don’t think we know the answer.
Leigertwood’s problems at QPR were three fold. Firstly, his best position – nobody knows what it is. He initially came through the ranks at Orient and Wimbledon as a centre half but the only time I can recall him being used there by us for a prolonged period of time (longer than ten minutes) was a disastrous 4-2 defeat at Colchester in Mick Harford’s first game in charge. Not a conspicuous success it goes without saying. I would say his best ever QPR performance came at right full back, ironically against Reading live on Sky in Gareth Ainsworth’s first match in caretaker charge. But mostly he was used in the centre of midfield and though you would think that the system we use this year with two deeper lying midfielders to cover for Taarabt may have suited him better he was shocking in his final match for us against Norwich.
Secondly, his first touch and range of passing – often of a League Two standard. Leigertwood developed a handy knack of scoring spectacular long range goals for QPR, the first of which came early in his time at Loftus Road in an away game against Leicester. That goal was only scored because his lousy touch of the ball had sent it spinning five yards in front of him and a shot was the only option left to him. Without wishing to overstate this the fact that somebody with Leigertwood’s technique of controlling and passing the ball makes such a good living in the second tier of English football is rather a sad indictment and is one of the many reasons we continue to struggle on the international scene – physical presence is often enough. I don’t watch a lot of Spanish second division football, but I cannot imagine Leigertwood would get on particularly well there.
Thirdly, playing with Gavin Mahon – as they were both important players at various points in their QPR careers they had to play together semi-regularly, and whenever they did it was a total disaster. The best example was the Burnley home game where we led 2-0 just before half time but lost Martin Rowlands to injury and had to unite Mahon and Legs in the middle before going on to lose spectacularly 4-2.
Leigertwood earns a sizeable wedge at Loftus Road and I was disappointed that we weren’t able to sell him to Reading permanently in January. The Royals seem to love him though, which probably helps his mood and form, and I’m actually glad he cannot play against us on Friday – three months ago I’d have been happy for QPR to include a clause in the deal saying he has to take the field in this match.
The arrival of Leigertwood seems to have been just one of quite a few pieces fitting into place for manager Brian McDermott. He took over last season with the Royals in some trouble at the bottom of the table following the disastrous Brendan Rodgers era in this part of the world. Having lost just three of their last 15 matches in climbing away from the bottom Reading were an outside bet for many people this season.
Their summer transfer activity was odd – there’s no other word for it. They signed left back Marcus Williams from Scunthorpe, and then immediately replaced him by bringing in Ian Harte from Carlisle. And that was the only business they did – two left backs. Momentum was in danger of being lost as Scunthorpe won at the Mad Stad on day one and it seemed to take a while for Reading to settle back down into any kind of form.
McDermott has limited managerial experience, and comes across as being about as inspiring as a soggy cloth whenever interviewed – constantly droning on about referees and the general injustice of life in general. I wondered whether his success last season was based simply on the fact that he wasn’t Brendan Rodgers. There’s no doubt his predecessor was unpopular with a group of players that underperformed badly under his guidance and they seemed to relish every game under the new man once Rodgers left. Whether that would continue this season, particularly after a summer in which they lost star man Gylfi Sigurdsson and brought in two left full backs and nothing else, seemed doubtful and an opening day defeat at home to Scunthorpe did not bode well.
That held more wait when they made a mediocre start to this season after a summer of doing very little transfer activity, but to his credit McDermott has got them playing well once more and they’re very hard to beat. They’re a player short from what I’ve seen of them – a decent partner for Shane Long in attack. But they could still be a threat should these draws start turning into three point hauls.
The Manager: I do always fear for sides a little bit when the appoint an unknown ‘good club man’ from within to lead the first team. I shouldn’t, because I imagine the success rate is about equal to, if not better, than bringing in an unknown from outside but I always seem to recall disasters like Steve Wigley at Southampton and Bryan Gunn at Norwich rather than the great Liverpool boot room of the 1970s and 1980s. Perhaps that’s more a reflection on me.
So I cannot say my hopes were high for the future of Reading when they appointed Brian McDermott, an almost complete unknown, to replace Brendan Rodgers midway through last season. I really rate Rodgers as a manager. I thought he did a terrific job at Watford and is now doing so again at Swansea. Having coached at the Madejski Stadium prior to his appointment he seemed like the ideal bright young manager the club needed after stagnating under Steve Coppell’s charge. He turned out to be a walking disaster zone.
Why Rodgers fared so badly at Reading nobody will ever know. It has been said that the Reading players found him to be arrogant, and hated to play for him. Sometimes though managers just don’t ‘fit’ at a club – Rodgers has been a success at Watford and Swansea but at Reading, despite coaching there previously, he was a failure. By contrast McDermott looked to be little more than the last man standing when he was appointed as caretaker manager. He’d been scouting for the club, and previously managed with little success at Woking and Slough, but having failed to win any of his five league games in temporary charge, a run that included a 4-1 thrashing by eventually relegated Plymouth, it seemed madness (or tight) when John Madejski gave him the job on a full time basis. But McDermott had shown some sparks of promise – under his guidance Reading knocked Premiership sides Liverpool and Burnley out of the FA Cup. Ultimately the former Arsenal trainee who built a playing career as a lower league journeyman with Exeter, Yeovil, Cardiff and Oxford as done a tremendous job, winning 22 and drawing 13 of his 47 matches in charge and leading Readng to ninth last season having taken over with them in the bottom three.
McDermott and Reading seem to be the perfect fit. One of those unlikely appointments that just seems to work – Rodgers has all the coaching badges under the sun, success on his CV at Watford and now Swansea, recommendations from Mourinho and experience coaching at Chelsea and failed while McDermott used to manage Woking for a bit and has excelled.
Three to Watch: McDermott spent most of January searching for an extra cutting edge to supplement Irish striker Shane Long. With 13 goals to his name already, including a fabulous strike in defeat at Loftus Road, Long is enjoying his best season in English football since signing from Cork at the same time as Kevin Doyle in 2005.
Long is a bit like a Championship Robin Van Persie for me – he doesn’t have that electric pace to run in behind defenders, he’s not got supreme heading or aerial ability to play as a target man, he’s not really a hold it and lay it merchant like our own Heidar Helguson, and his record doesn’t suggest a deadly Jermain Defoe style penalty box predator. But his all round game is good – there are no outstanding elements to it, but there are few flaws as well. He may well be out on Friday with a bruised hip and it would undoubtedly be good news for us if he didn’t make it.
With Austin strangely choosing Burnley rather than leafy Suffolk with Ipswich, or staying where he is now but moving up a league with Reading, the Royals turned instead to another lower league striker making a name for himself Mathieu Manset who was also linked with a move to QPR. Hereford United look to an outsider like a Conference side in waiting but they stumbled across Manset’s talents thanks to the scouting of former Scunthorpe striker Guy Ipoua, gave the giant Frenchman a chance following his release from Le Havre and were promptly rewarded with 13 goals in a poor team this season including four in his last three appearances before moving to the Madejski Stadium. He scored his first Reading goal against Cardiff on Tuesday night.
I include Australian goalkeeper Adam Federici at this point as well, for one very specific reason. Sitting, as I do, level with the edge of the penalty box at Loftus Road for home games I have noticed something when we’ve faced Federici in the last two seasons that I have no doubt will be picked up on by the Sky TV cameras on Friday. When collecting the ball and looking to deliver it downfield Federici holds it out to the side of him in one hand and then almost fly kicks it down field like a Rugby Union or Aussie Rules player. It’s an odd style and can get tremendous distance on the ball but what I want you to watch out for on Friday is the line on the edge of the penalty area because he really, really pushes his luck with the timing of the ball release as he goes to kick it. You could almost penalise him for handball every time he does it.
Cardiff stuck a man in front of him for one of these incidents on Tuesday and it put him off to such an extent that he duffed the kick straight to Jay Bothroyd who, a matter of seconds later, was calmly running past him and sliding it into the back of the net. If he comes up for a corner late in the game with Reading chasing an equaliser, he does have form for scoring having previously scored against the Bluebirds with the last kick of the game at the Madejski Stadium.
Links >>> Reading official website >>> Reading Message Board >>> Travel Guide
QPR: Kenny 7, Orr 6, Connolly 7, Gorkss 7, Walker 7, Derry 8, Faurlin 9, Mackie 8, Taarabt 9 (Clarke 80, 7), Smith 8 (Ephraim 90, -), Hulse 6 (Agyemang 81, 7)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Leigertwood, Rowlands, Parker
Sent Off: Orr (serious foul play)
Booked: Derry (ungentlemanly conduct), Clarke (handball)
Goals: Taarabt 27 (penalty won by Taarabt), Faurlin 61 (assisted Mackie), Smith 71 (assisted Taarabt)
Reading: Federici 7, Griffin 6, Khizanishvili 6, Mills 6, Harte 6, McAnuff 5, Tabb 6 (Antonio 81, 6), Karacan 6 (Church 62, 5), Howard 6, Robson-Kanu 7 (Hunt 72, 6), Long 7
Subs Not Used: McCarthy, Cummings, Pearce, Armstrong.
Booked: Mills (foul), Karacan (foul), Antonio (foul)
Goals: Long 68 (unassisted)
QPR didn’t get the best of luck with refereeing decisions in their two meetings with Reading last season either, particularly in the game at the Madejski Stadium where our old friend Gavin Ward was in vitage form with the whistle. At the time both teams were enjoying resurgences under new management with Neil Warnock and Brian McDermott leading their sides up the table after winter relegation fights. Young referee Gavin Ward took centre stage by sending Damion Stewart off just before half time under heavy duress from the Reading players and then awarding the Royals a late penalty which was converted by Sigudsson for a 1-0 win.
Reading: Federici, Griffin, Mills, Ingimarsson, Bertrand, Kebe,Tabb, Sigurdsson, Howard (Rasiak 61), McAnuff, Long (Church 67)
Subs Not Used: Hamer, Gunnarsson, Matejovsky, Robson-Kanu, Khizanishvili
Booked: Rasiak (diving)
Goals: Sigurdsson 85 (penalty)
QPR: Ikeme 7, Connolly 7, Stewart 6, Gorkss 8, Hill 7, Faurlin 7, Leigertwood 6, Priskin 6 (German 87), Taarabt 7 (Ramage 80, -), Ephraim 6 (Cook 90, -), Simpson 7
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Cook, Vine, Buzsaky, Borrowdale
Booked: Faurlin (foul), Leigertwood (repetitive fouling), Hill (foul), Connolly (dissent)
Sent Off: Stewart (two bookings – foul, obstructing goalkeeper)
Head to Head >>> Reading wins 36 >>> Draws 17 >>> QPR wins 26
Previous Results:
2010 QPR 3 Reading 1 (Taarabt, Faurlin, Smith)
2009/10 Reading 1 QPR 0
2009/10 QPR 4 Reading 1 (Buzsaky, Simpson, Vine, Agyemang)
2008/09 QPR 0 Reading 0
2008/09 Reading 0 QPR 0
2005/06 Reading 2 QPR 1 (Furlong)
2005/06 QPR 1 Reading 2 (Cook)
2004/05 QPR 0 Reading 0
2004/05 Reading 1 QPR 0
2001/02 Reading 1 QPR 0
2001/02 QPR 0 Reading 0
1997/98 QPR 1 Reading 1 (Spencer)
1997/98 Reading 1 QPR 2 (Spencer, Swales og)
1996/97 QPR 0 Reading 2
1996/97 Reading 2 QPR 1 (Spencer)
1966/67 QPR 2 Reading 1 (Marsh, R Morgan)
1966/67 Reading 2 QPR 2 (Langley pen, I Morgan)
Played for both clubs – Les Ferdinand
QPR 1986-1995 >>> Reading 2005
Les Ferdinand is quite simply one of the greatest players to ever pull on a QPR shirt. Les started his career in non-league football with first Southall and then Hayes. His impressive strike rate at the level caught the attention of QPR and signed the striker for £15,000 in 1986. He was still a player with raw potential but Jim Smith could see a star in him and sent him on loan to Brentford and then Turkish side Besiktas to gain some first time experience. His time in Turkey was a successful one his 21 goals in a season helping the side to a league and cup double. One famous story is that on Les debut for Besiktas, the club sacrificed a sheep in his honour.
Back at Loftus Road Trevor Francis was now in charge and Les struggled to break into the team and was about to leave the club until Don Howe came in as gaffer. Under Howe he scored his first Rangers goals, in a 4-2 victory over Chelsea and over the next two seasons formed a profitable partnership with Roy Wegerle including memorable strikes against Luton and in the famous 3-1 win at Anfield.
Howe was soon replaced by Gerry Francis and under his wing Ferdinand emerged as a truly great front-man. Football moved into a new era in 1992-93, the first season of the Premier League and what a season it was for both Les and Queens Park Rangers. Who could forget the back-to-back hat-tricks over Easter weekend and the brilliant goal against Sheffield United? His goals led Rangers to their best top-flight finish since the 70’s in 5th place and as top London club. Les finished the season with 20 goals, just one behind the league’s top-scorer Teddy Sheringham and his efforts were rewarded with an England call-up, on which he scored on his international debut against San Marino- he would go on to earn 17 caps.
Over the next two seasons Ferdinand would again top the R’s goal-scoring charts and become a true legend, earning the nickname Sir Les. Unfortunately the big boys soon started circulating and in the summer of 1995 Newcastle fought off competition from Arsenal and Blackburn to sign Les for a club record sale of £6 million. That following campaign Rangers struggled without their talisman with the money received from his sale wasted by Ray Wilkins on the likes of Ned Zelic and Simon Osborn, and they were relegated. Les on the other hand flourished in the Newcastle side that finished second and won the PFA player of the year. After Newcastle Les joined Spurs but injuries we beginning to take their toll on him and never really found his best form again, but did score the 10,000th Premier League goal during his time with Spurs.
He spent six seasons at White Hart Lane before enjoying spells with West Ham, Leicester and Bolton, before ending his career with Reading where he scored once in twelve appearances. An absolute modern day legend and still the best header of a ball I’ve seen in front of goal. He’s now a pundit for the BBC. -Ashleigh Rose
Links >>> QPR 3 Reading 1 Match Report >>> Reading 1 QPR 0 Match Report >>> QPR 4 Reading 1 Match Report >>> Connections and Memories
Reading have doubts over 13 goal top scorer Shane Long who suffered a badly bruised hip in the early stages of the 2-2 draw at Cardiff on Tuesday. He will attempt to play through the pain on injections with former Hereford man Mathieu Manset ready to deputise if he doesn’t make it – the Frenchman scored Reading’s second goal in South Wales. Long told the Reading Chronicle “A Cardiff defender smashed into my hip and it seized up right away. I tried running it off but it was getting worse and worse. It’s like a dead leg but much more painful. I couldn’t really move much after the game so we’ll have to wait and see. I really don’t want to miss such a big night as that. These are the games every player wants to be involved in and I’ll be gutted if I’m out.”
Elsewhere: Last week playing on Sunday and then an FA Cup day meant Rangers had two fixtures while most other sides didn’t play at all. This week it’s the opposite way round with QPR going first on the Friday and then everybody else playing twice before we take to the field at Loftus Road against Nottingham Forest next Sunday. It feels like a big week. The clash of the weekend in the Championship, by some distance, is the Welsh derby between Swansea and Cardiff on Sunday. Dropped points for at least one of them can only be good news for QPR. Forest host Watford, Leeds have Coventry and Norwich go to Burnley elsewhere in the promotion race. There’s a Humber derby for Scunthorpe and Hull while Preston need to beat Bristol City or risk being cast completely adrift. Sheff Utd have crept into the bottom three and go to Ipswich this weekend, Palace have clawed their way out and have a six pointer at Middlesbrough.
Referee: Nottinghamshire official Russell Booth is in charge at the Madejski Stadium on Friday. He has already refereed the Royals this season in a 1-1 draw at Watford while his last QPR appointment came at the tail end of last season when the R’s won 1-0 at Barnsley to complete a rare double – they’d certainly take a similar result if offered it here. Click here for more on this referee’s history with us.
Reading: The Royals are one of the division’s form sides with just two defeats in their last 18 matches, although eight draws in that time has kept them out of the play off picture thus far. They’ve won four and drawn two of their last six in all competitions, and could easily have picked up another maximum at Cardiff on Tuesday but for a late Bellamy equaliser. Since Swansea won here in October they have gone nine home games without defeat, including victory against Premiership side West Brom in the FA Cup. Other than the Swans only Scunthorpe United have won here this season, and that was way back on the first day of the season.
QPR Rangers’ away form is a cause for concern with just one win from ten consecutive road trips since a 2-1 success at Palace in October. The issue is clear, QPR have failed to score in seven of those ten games including the last four – it’s some 380 minutes since they last scored on their travels. Nevertheless at Hull and Burnley the defence was good enough to secure a point and the Hoops come into this game unbeaten in five league games and top of the league by five points. Rangers have won at Palace, Leicester, Ipswich, Coventry and Sheffield United on their travels this season so far. Rangers have hit the woodwork eight times this season, and only Leicester have had more shots on the goal.
Prediction: It’s got to be a draw hasn’t it? These two are league leaders in stalemates – QPR have drawn 11 times, Reading 12 – and both will be fighting hard to make sure they don’t lose this one too. QPR’s defence has started to worry me a bit of late despite only conceding a league best 18 goals so far this season and keeping 14 clean sheets, but by the same token our attack must be due a goal on the road at some point.
5/2 the draw with Victor Chandler